Ring of Kerry tour

About This Tour

This 8-hour tour picks you up from your hotel or cruise port and takes you through some of the finest scenery Kerry has to offer - a county that sets the bar high even by Irish standards.

The day starts at Ross Castle, a 16th-century tower house built by the Donoghue family on the shore of the lower lake. From there, you continue into Killarney National Park to explore Muckross House and its gardens, and take in Torc Waterfall. The route then climbs into the mountains to reach Ladies View, where the lakes of Killarney spread out below you, and on to Molls Gap - a mountain pass with the kind of views that stop you mid-sentence. You’ll descend into the Black Valley and make your way through the centuries-old Gap of Dunloe, a narrow glacial valley where the shades of green are unlike anything else in Ireland.

At the end of the day, you’re returned to your hotel or cruise port.

Good to Know

• Pickup from your hotel or cruise port - confirm your exact location when booking
• Tour runs for approximately 8 hours
• Comfortable walking shoes are recommended for stops along the route

Local Tips

Ross Castle and the lower lake: Ross Castle was built by the Donoghue family in the 15th century and sits on the edge of Lough Leane. The lakeshore path between Killarney town and the castle takes about 40 minutes on foot, though you’ll arrive by vehicle on this tour. If you have a few minutes before the guided section starts, the path running west from the castle along the lake edge toward Knockreer is one of the emptiest stretches of the whole national park.

Muckross House and the park’s story: Muckross House was built in 1843 and visited by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Herberts spent years preparing the house and estate for the visit and the bill was part of what eventually bankrupted the family. It was handed to the Irish State in 1932 by Senator Arthur Rose Vincent and his American in-laws, and became Ireland’s first national park. The estate covers eleven thousand acres, and you’re walking through an act of extraordinary generosity every time you step into the park for free. The rhododendrons at Muckross are best in May.

Torc Waterfall: Torc is about fifty paces in from the road - the short walk to the base takes no time at all and the falls are genuinely dramatic after any rainfall. If the tour allows extra time here, the Old Kenmare Road climbs above the waterfall through oak woods and opens onto moorland with the lakes laid out below. It empties out quickly once you go past the main viewing point.

Ladies View and Molls Gap: Ladies View got its name from Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, who paused here in 1861 and reportedly declared the view remarkable. It is. The lakes of Killarney with the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks rising behind them - on a clear day this is one of the finest views in the country. Molls Gap, a few kilometres further on, is a mountain pass with a good café stop.

The Gap of Dunloe: The Gap is a narrow glacial valley, about 11 km from Kate Kearney’s Cottage at the head to Lord Brandon’s Cottage at the far end. No cars are allowed through in summer, and with good reason - it’s barely wide enough for a jaunting car. The five lakes along the valley floor change colour through the day. Coming through here by vehicle rather than on foot is a different experience, but the scale of the valley - the hanging boulders, the shades of green, the echoes - comes through regardless.

Where to eat in Killarney: The town has more options than its reputation suggests. Bricín on High Street does a proper boxty - a potato pancake stuffed with whatever the kitchen has good that day - and has been doing it for decades. For a pre-tour breakfast, Petit Délice on Main Street is a French bakery that does proper croissants and decent coffee. For a post-tour pint, Courtney’s on Plunkett Street is the pub the locals send you to: small, low-ceilinged, and sessions start around half nine most nights.

If you’re stopping in Kenmare on the way back: The N71 over Molls Gap brings you down into Kenmare, and the town’s worth a pause. Bean & Batch was Munster best café 2023 - Cork Coffee Roasters beans, sandwiches that fill you properly. For an evening meal, No. 35 on Main Street runs its own rare-breed Saddleback pigs and the five-course tasting menu is built around them. Crowley’s on Henry Street is the trad pub - small, dark, properly worn, sessions most weekend nights.

Sneem - the knot in the Ring: Sneem means knot in Irish, and the village lives up to it - the Sneem River splits it into North Square and South Square, connected by a single bridge. The salmon waterfalls behind the church are five minutes’ walk from South Square and are not signposted for coaches. Find them on foot. If the day allows a longer stop, The Blue Bull beside the Steve Crusher Casey bronze is the quiet pub after the tour buses leave.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Killarney - A railway town that exists because of the 1853 train line and earns its keep with a national park out the back door: 10,000 hectares of lakes, oak woods and the only native red deer herd left on the island, with Ross Castle, Muckross House and the Gap of Dunloe all within the park boundary.
• Kenmare - Where the N71 drops down from Molls Gap into the valley, a planned market town laid out in 1670 by Sir William Petty in three streets meeting at a triangle. Bean & Batch on the square was Munster best café 2023; for dinner, No. 35 on Main Street runs its own rare-breed Saddleback pigs two kilometres up the road and the tasting menu is the reason to stay the night.
• Sneem - The Ring of Kerry’s halfway village, where the Sneem River splits the place in two squares with a single stone bridge between them. The name means knot in Irish, and most coaches stop here for forty minutes and a coffee. Walk five minutes behind the church to find the salmon waterfalls that aren’t signposted for tourists, then take a pint in The Blue Bull on South Square when the day-trippers are back on the road.